Scuderia Ferrari Spanish driver Carlos Sainz was recently asked about the controversial ending of the last race in the 2021 Formula 1 season, explaining that a red flag would have been a fairer decision after the incident of Nicholas Latifi in the final stages of the Yas Marina event.
Carlos Sainz ended the 2021 campaign with a strong third place finish in the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, after an entertaining battle with Scuderia AlphaTauri Japanese driver Yuki Tsunoda and Mercedes’ Valtteri Bottas on his way to his fourth podium of a very impressive first year with the Maranello team.
However, Carlos would have liked a chance to fight for even a better result at the Yas Marina circuit, which was not possible given the fact that race director Michael Masi decided to allow only some lapped runners to overtake the Safety Car ahead of the final lap, more precisely the drivers which at that stage were between title contenders Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton. This was the ideal opportunity for the Red Bull driver to take advantage and secure his first Formula 1 world title with a dramatic last-lap pass on the Mercedes driver.
Commentator and TV presenter Karun Chandhok explained that a brake fire on the Williams following Nicholas Latifi’s incident led to a longer Safety Car period, which complicated the decision that Michael Masi had to take late on.
Given the situation, there was no more time to red flag the event and get the cars back round to the grid again, but Carlos Sainz said that he have liked to be in amongst the battle for the win on the final lap at the Yas Marina circuit:
“I would have liked to have been behind them but with the lapped cars I couldn’t fight for the first win, especially if they crashed,” he said, as reported by the Spanishs media.
Show your support for Scuderia Ferrari with official merchandise collection from Puma!
At the same time, the Ferrari driver feels that a suspension of the race would have proven the least contentious way to set up the final lap of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix:
“For Hamilton it would have been fairer to have a red flag, maybe it would have been fairer to have a red flag at the end of the race with both of them at the same time, but the regulations don’t require it in that context if there is not too much dirt on the track, etc.”
The FIA are currently conducting an investigation into how the events in the final laps of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix were managed, but for Carlos Sainz the most important thing is that the rules of the sport change in order to allow for more transparency and consistency.
“That’s why we have to analyse what happened, because I think it was a bit unfortunate to be in that position. Sometimes the consistency in the application of the rules has been controversial and needs to be reviewed even though not everyone is going to be happy, but I think some of them need to be clarified and make the sport more understandable and consistent.” – the Ferrari driver concluded.
Leave a Reply